this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. of several big cities in local elections, including the capital ankara. the opposition says it also our top story: british mps are to vote again won the largest city, on alternative brexit options istanbul. mr erdogan told supporters that the party had lost the hearts after they failed to find a majority for any of the plans put of urban voters, and he promised to act on the results. to them last week. big losses for president erdogan‘s lawyers for the vietnamese governing party in local woman doan thi huong held elections across turkey. after the killing of the opposition wins in the capital the half—brother of north korea's ankara for the first time leader, says charges in 25 years. against her have been lowered. she had been charged with killing kimjong nam at kuala lumpur airport in 2017. a vietnamese woman charged with killing kim jong—nam, the half—brother of the north korean a comedian who plays a fictional leader, kim jong—un, president on tv is on course to win is sentenced to three the first round of ukraine's election. years and four months exit polls give the satirist in prison, but could be volodymyr zelenskiy a clear lead released next month. over the incumbent and just when everybody expected a downturn, petro poroshenko, by 30% chinese manufacturing unexpectedly to 17%. there's likely to be jumps back in march. a run—off in three weeks. now on bbc news, zeinab badawi

is in hong kong with hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi, in hong kong. there are complaints by pro—democracy activists here that beijing is increasing its control of the territory and eroding its freedoms, in contravention of an agreement in 1997 handing hong kong over to china. my guest is bernard chan, who sits on the territory's executive council. how much autonomy does hong kong really enjoy, and what does the situation here tell us about the direction that china as a whole is moving?

bernard chan, in hong kong, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. you got back recently from beijing, where you were a delegate at the national people's congress. how does the leadership in beijing view hong kong? well, obviously hong kong plays a very important role for china, especially during these whole trade war tensions. now, hong kong is a special administrative region, so we are china, but yet we have a special status. we have different trade agreements with the rest of the world, so i think we play a very special purpose for them. and you have met president xi jinping multiple times, in groups, discussing hong kong and other affairs. when he was vice president, he was in charge of hong kong. you also knew him then. what is his personal opinion of hong kong? well, as i said, hong kong is a very special place for china, and we are part of china, but yet we have this special status. we can do things that perhaps the rest of china can't do.

we have the rule of law, that international investors would like to do business with. so i think we have this very special status for china, that i think is notjust for the 8 million hong kong people. it also serves a purpose for the 1.3 billion chinese. so does president xi jinping then see you very much as part of china? because you do have this special status. because there is concern in china about what some describe as his increasing authoritarianism and centralisation. i mean, i'll give you an example ofjust one critic, mao yushi, a 90—year—old economist, who has seen so many trends in china. he says president xi's idea of governance is less liberty and more control. he scrapped the two—term limits last year, so he could in fact to be president for life if he wanted to. he has had a huge purge of his critics, and this

anti—corruption drive. i mean, there are numerous examples one could cite. you know, i've been involved in politics in hong kong, and hong kong is 8 million people, less than 8 million. china is 1.3 billion, and you can imagine it's not an easyjob. so obviously china... not an easyjob for who? for the leaders in china, in beijing. listen, i mean, china has actually done amazing things over the last a0 years. the economic reforms have basically lifted most poverty out of china, from the chinese. but how do you move that forward? now, we have 300 million middle class in china. how are you going to continue to meet those expectations? through increasing authoritarianism, then? well, i think there is a mix of — if you let all chinese behave the way they want to behave, i think china would be a very different place today. so i think you do need some sort of a top—down approach. but you're right. i mean, how much longer can you continue this way? but i think, for now, i think it's probably the best way for china, to have certain control, certain directions from the top.

although hong kong operates very differently — that's why we have the two systems. hong kong is more market—driven, whereas china is more central, top—down approaches. so you accept, then, that there is increasing authoritarianism and centralisation by president xi, concentrating power in his own hands? well, i wouldn't say concentrating power. butjust to give an example — the greater bay area, and that basically covers the area of nine cities near this region, plus hong kong and macau, and it's going to be an effort that starts in beijing. but you can imagine, if it's not being co—ordinated at the beijing level, if you leave it to these nine cities and hong kong and macau to decide, we can never decide, because we're competing amongst each other, as well. so you do need some sort of co—ordinating efforts at the beijing level to orchestrate this sort of thing. so i wouldn't call this a completely, like, an authoritarian type of style, but for a country of this size, you do need some sort of co—ordinating effort at the top.

all right, you say co—ordinating. as i say, critics say centralisation. but given that hong kong has been given in a fairly high level of autonomy, enshrined in the basic law, its kind of mini—constitution, which was agreed in 1997 when it was handed over from the united kingdom to china, they're— you know, people are trying to see nowjust what is president xi's interpretation of hong kong's special status, as you have just outlined. i will give you an idea. two years ago, when he came here to welcome the new administration, carrie lam, he said any attempt to endanger china's sovereignty and security, challenge the power of central government and the authority of basic law, or use hong kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland, is an act which crosses the red line. indeed. what is that red line?

well, the red line is that hong kong is very much part of china. the thing about hong kong is we are the two systems within one country. so the red line clearly is you cannot ever mention the separation of hong kong. it sounds like a threat, though, doesn't it? don't cross the red line. well, i think it's reminding a very small part of hong kong that actually have this illusion that hong kong can be — that hong kong has full autonomy. we have a high degree of autonomy, but it doesn't mean that there is any hope of a separation from china. so i think that is basically a reminder to a small part of hong kong that may have that illusion. which small part? well, you know, a lot of the younger people, they may not have the experience of understanding the changeover. you know, hong kong returned to china now for 21 years, so for many of those born after that, they may not have this appreciation. he's threatening the pro—independence activists, people like andy chan and his national party, which was banned from

standing in any elections. agnes chow, a young pro—democracy activist who wanted to stand in a by—election last year, she was also not allowed. you know what? i certainly would agree that those individuals that you just mentioned, they don't represent hong kong. the rest of hong kong people, we very much feel that we are part of china. however... but they represent a minority, however small that minority might be. absolutely, a minority. but this minority cannot be completely ignored, because if you ignore them, this small minority might increasingly feel that this can be doable, which it is not. i mean, hong kong can never be and independent part of china. —— an independent part of china. that may be the case — and indeed, i'll give you a quote from jeremy hunt, the british foreign secretary, who says the uk government's view on independence is well known. we believe that it is neither a realistic nor desirable option for hong kong. he says, however, the right of freedom of expression,

speech and academic freedom are enshrined in the basic law, and he calls on the hong kong government to create an environment that supports open debates, and enables people to represent a full range of political opinion to play a role in the city's governance. so his point is, even if you don't agree with these pro—independence activists, you've got to allow them the space to express their opinions. well, and we do. but you're not, because you're banning them from standing. well, that's different. we are banning them from operating as a party, but we can certainly talk about this subject, as we are talking about it right now. these subjects are being discussed at our university level, day—to—day life. we talk about these sorts of issues. there is no—one telling us not to. but we obviously don't endorse them to operate as a party, to encourage independence. that is the red line. are you really allowing them to speak, though? i'll give you an example — paul tang, a bookseller here in hong kong, forced to close down his shop because he was selling books which are forbidden by the communist party in beijing. and joshua wong, another

pro—democracy activist, says this marks definitive proof of hong kong's lack of freedom. well, if you have the chance to visit our legislature, you can see this debate is very lively, so we certainly can talk about it. now, what i think a lot of people are confused, visually or optically, is what happens in china. in china, that is a different story. but i think in hong kong, these types of topics, these types of issues, are discussed very lively every day. of course we maintain that freedom of expression in hong kong. so you're saying that there is no freedom of speech or expression in china, the mainland, but that there is, actually, in hong kong. everyone understands that we operate in a very different way than the rest of china. that's why the two systems exist very lively in hong kong. but then why would — for example, since 2014, the pro—democracy umbrella revolution protesters even since then are still protesting, as they were outside the university of hong kong in march, protesters saying we condemn

the punishment of four students because they were defending freedom of speech. you've got people who disagree with you... well, i don't think anywhere else in the world would allow students blocking the major highways of any city for almost 90 days — i think 80 days. it's unheard of. i think the fact that we are so accommodating with the students, and they continue to express freely at the university level — but of course, i do not believe that they represent the majority, though, however, of the hong kong citizens. the rest of the hong kong citizens, in fact, would not agree with them. that is why the whole — you mentioned the umbrella movement, is towards the end. they don't get the support from the rest of the hong kong citizens. carrie lam, the chief executive who you advise, has said hong kong, our home, is suffering from quite a lot of divisiveness. she said that at the time

of her election, two years ago. even she accepts that there is this divided opinion in hong kong. you can't brush it under the carpet. you have to do something about it. well, we don't, but i have to remind you the majority of the hong kong people, they are much — we have bigger worries than hong kong independence. again, i keep repeating, that is a very small part of hong kong. the bigger part of hong kong, we worry about our future. you know, are we going to continue to be prosperous? are we worried about being marginalised, with what is happening in the rest of the world, and vis—a—vis china ? those are the bigger issues that we are facing, of housing affordability. we have tons of other topics that we need to pay much more attention than talking about the independence of hong kong, which is a nonstarter. that's why i keep saying, for the international audience, maybe they feel this is the burning issue, but they are not for hong kong people. not everybody who is a pro—democracy activist necessarily advocates independence. the two things are separate. there are those who are genuinely

concerned about an erosion of the rights which are enshrined in the basic law. so you are criticising here the pro—independence, and i said to you i accept that this is a tiny, tiny minority. but there is a wider body of opinion who is concerned about the control that is coming from beijing. but i totally disagree there is any erosion of what we have been allowed to do in hong kong. freedom of expression has continued, the rule of law has continued. you look at our court system in hong kong. 80% of the judges on these courts of final appeal, the most senior court, are not even chinese, and 60% practice in the common law jurisdiction. so we remain very independent. you raise the courts, but there is a big fear that the judiciary is losing its impartiality. there is a big fear, but it's not true. as i mentioned to you, the court are very independent, because the majority of them practise in the common law jurisdictions. but there was an open letter signed by 12 lawyers including the former uk lord chancellor lord faulkner,

and six other qcs in 2017, responding to the jailing of the pro—democracy protest leaders. but they said this — a serious threat to the rule of law, and the independence of thejudiciary, a pillar of hong kong, risks becoming a charade, at the beck and call of the chinese communist party. hong kong's rule of law and basic freedoms, at the heart of the principle of one country, two systems, now face grave threats. they disagree with you about the independence of the courts and thejudiciary. as far as i know, people are still coming to hong kong to invest because they really trust our legal system will be independent, and i have not seen one case flow. one of our rivalries, i won't mention any names of that city, you know, ithink in hong kong we, the government, lost more cases than that city ever had. so we, the court, remain unbiased, we remain independent. they adjudicate over whatever

is inscribed in the rule of law. so i disagree, and that is why we continue to see investors coming to hong kong to use this as a base to invest to the rest of china. is that the case? because you work in business, you come from a family who've been involved in insurance and banking. you sit on the boards of both chinese and foreign companies. i put this to you, charles mock, a former it executive who represents the it sector in the legislative council, said at the end of last year, previously when i went abroad to promote investment people asked whether they could make money, but now they are asking me about freedom of expression and the rule—of—law—related problems. i totally agree. when i go abroad, that's the first question. that is the point. investors are concerned. you know why they ask that question? because all of the news they have got is always about the issues with this one—country problem, like independence

and whether reporters are allowed to report. all they hear about is that. they don't see what's happening day—to—day in hong kong life, where business is thriving and people are continuing to invest and using the advantage of that two system, because they only get to hear from the international media all of the things relating to the politics. that's your answer to that. which is true. well, i'll put you a very informed opinion then to perhaps clarify the point i was trying to make you, yu siu from the economist intelligence unit, says hong kong's prosperity is founded on global recognition of its autonomy from china. a potential growing influence of the central government over major trading partners. we're already seeing investor confidence being shaken in hong kong because of people's concerns about perhaps lack of transparency and the kind of things that they've seen going on in the mainland coming here. well, that's exactly why it is a two system and why people are coming to hong kong, because we are transparent. and the i think the central government prefer to keep the two

systems the way it is, because that's exactly the reason why people would like to come to hong kong, use hong kong as the pathway to invest in china. because the rule of law here is something that international investors are very comfortable with. that's exactly why, you mentioned that i have on many occasions met with xijinping in a group setting, and each time, he reminded that the two system needs to continue the way it is. that china also wants to see the two system thrive. well, i mean, there are warnings that hong kong does risk being hurt by deteriorating us—china relations and that it can no longer pretend hong kong has genuine autonomy from beijing. that is a view. so let me ask you, then, much has been made of the trade tensions between china and the united states, and that trade flows through hong kong. and there are concerns, particularly over the chinese telecoms giant huawei and its investments and involvement in sensitive parts of western economies. i mean, what's your view on that? do you think that is going to affect

hong kong, or are you going to be protected from that? well, i think it would be foolish to say that we can completely ignore it, because oui’ economy is linked with china today. what happened in the trade talks between the us and china will have an effect on hong kong, either directly or more likely indirectly. so, yes, sure. but i just hope that they will manage to work out something, because it is certainly not in the interests of both china and the us to escalate any more of these so—called trade tensions. is this really about trade between the two, this rivalry, or do you think it's more a kind of geostrategic chessboard chess game that's going on? sure, i think with the rise of china, clearly, it probably got a little bit uncomfortable somewhat. so i think so. so i think china also has to be a bit smart about this too. while we continue to improve

the livelihood of the people, we certainly do not want to give this impression to the friends and their neighbours that, you know, of any chinese aggression, because i certainly don't think that's the intention of the government. i think the chinese government has a bigger problem to deal with, it's their own people. how are you going to continue to improve the livelihoods of the 1.3 billion people? and the increasing expectation from the middle class in china. but unfortunately, you know, i think it may have got into the nerve of some of the other neighbours. so i think we need to be careful. in fact, in the recent speech by president xi, ithink, you know, ithink the message is a bit changed these days. i think he wants to make sure that china wants to be very much part of the rest of the world as well. so it's not all about china. so it has to be a global effort. so you mention how economic prosperity is important for china and obviously for the people here in hong kong. but i put it to you that hong kong

actually, in terms of looking at it as part of china as a whole, has diminishing economic clout. i mean, at the time of the handover in 1997, hong kong contributed 20% of china's gdp. it's now gone down to 3%. you're not as important as you once were. exactly, i think exactly as you put it, this is a bigger problem than what we discussed earlier about hong kong independence. that is not the problem. the problem really... i wasn't talking about independence, and i wasn't advocating that. i was talking about the rollback of the democratic freedoms enshrined in the basic law. fair enough. i think the bigger issue we need to ask ourselves is can we continue to be meaningful to the rest of china? now, our next door neighbour, not farfrom here, you know, shenzhen, 30 years ago... it's a province in... fishing village. today, my goodness, their gdp is supposedly at the same level as hong kong. and they're now the silicon valley of china.

so huawei, tencent, they're all based there. so clearly, we're no longer... of course, thanks to the two system, there's still certain things hong kong can continue to do that none of the other cities in china can. but again, we can no longerjust assume that we can always be the largest contributor to the chinese economy. therefore, you mentioned the greater bay area initiative earlier on, and the idea is to integrate hong kong, both physically, through infrastructure, with macau and also nine cities in guangdong province. doesn't that reallyjust make hong kong then just like any other chinese city? not at all. i think the word you chose just now, "integration", it's yes and no. we try to figure out a way how we can take advantage of each other. there are certain things... but we are not integrating. we're not integrating, because we still need to keep that two system. that's why the special

status is so important. there's things that shenzhen can't do that we can. that's the point i was making, is this greater bay area, linking you with parts of guangdong province, makes you like any other regular chinese city. no, it's how we can tap into each other‘s strength. for example, for the rest of the nine cities in china, they can now come hopefully into the future, they can access hong kong for say wealth management products, that they have no access to back in their cities. they can come to hong kong because we are the two system, we have products, whether it's healthcare, education, and wealth—management products. things that they have no access to and now they have the chance. so i think it goes two ways. it's allowing this bay area, these nine cities, to take advantage of what the two system can offer to them. is it really two systems, though? because, i mean, there are so many people, including even the european parliament in november 2017, has said that, look, beijing's constant interference in hong kong puts

at risk, to use its words, the long—term viability of the one country, two systems model. i mean, we are already really looking at more one country, rather than two systems. that's absolutely not true. i go back to the same point i mentioned, the so—called interference you keep referring to is when you cross the line. beijing is very happy to keep hong kong the way it is because it serves them a purpose. but you just can't cross that line. does it really serve a purpose, though, if it allows hong kong to have the kind of democratic freedoms that perhaps other people in mainland china long for, whether it's injinjiang province, tibet and so on? beijing's concerned that those freedoms may infect the rest of china. no. so it's got to keep a lid on them. so all you hear about is those democratic type of discussions. what we talk about too is china,

most of the major chinese ipo companies take place in hong kong because this is the place where they can get listed, international investors. international public offering, ipo. that's right, they want that two system to work, it serves them a purpose. but of course, as i keep repeating myself, so long as i don't cross the line, you don't cross the line talking about any sort of separation of hong kong from china, from what i understand, for the rest of the issues, china wants to leave it to you, hong kong, to run the city the way you want it, based on the rule of law that we have under the constitution. and, very quickly, what happens in 2047 after the 50 year transition? excellent question, a question that everyone asks ourselves. now, i don't think even the leaders today in beijing knows the answer because it's still 20 some years to go. it's really up to hong kong to decide. if we continue to serve china the purpose, i believe that we might continue the way it is, even post 2047. but of course, if we lose that

purpose, then of course we're becoming more one country. losing your freedoms in 2047 after that 50 years is over? we lose the special system, the special status. that's why we've got to continue to be able to find a purpose, notjust for the 7.8 million hong kong people, it's for the 1.3 billion people, and i believe that we can. bernard chan, thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. thank you very much. hello again. we're going to see some big changes in our weather over the next few days of this week. not much snow on the mountains in scotland at the moment in this weather watch picture, sent to us by colliestun. but you've got to sense that that's going to change in a big way for scotland over the next few days as our weather turns significantly colder. now, on the satellite picture, we've got a streak of cloud

to the north—west of the uk. and that's a cold front that's working in towards our shores. but if you're heading outside over the next few hours, the only place you're likely to come across rain really is northern ireland, and even here the rain is going to be quite patchy in nature. clear spells further east allowing some frost, so it will be quite a chilly start for a number of us first thing in the morning. there's our area of high pressure slipping away to the continent. and here comes our cold front, bringing that thickening cloud, and eventually outbreaks of rain. so the rain will turn heavy and steady through the day for western scotland and for northern ireland. but for eastern scotland, for most of england and wales actually, we've got another fine day coming up with some spring sunshine, the best of it across southern counties. it might be april the first, but don't be fooled by those rising temperatures in cardiff, highs up to 16 degrees. there is only one direction of travel for the weather, and that is for things to get much colder. now through monday evening and night—time, we'll see the band of rain, our cold front sinks southwards, taking the rain

across northern ireland and scotland, into parts of england and wales through the night. ahead of the front, seven degrees in london. we're starting to get the colder air tucking in across scotland and northern ireland — the shape of things to come. so really from tuesday onwards, it's then that we'll start to see the really cold air digging in. turning colder, rain or showers, be cold enough for some hill snow and some overnight frost as well. this area of low pressure is going to be slipping southwards during tuesday, dragging in cold winds, coming all the way from within the arctic circle. 0ur cold front by this stage will be pushing eastwards, taking the rain with it on tuesday. the colder air following. sunshine and showers — some of the showers heavy with some hailand thunderand, yeah, there will be snow up in the hills as well. now a look at the temperatures. we're just looking at highs of seven degrees in belfast. factor in those strong northerly winds, an it really is going to feel quite cold, especially compared with the weather we've seen over recent days. low pressure then stays with us through the rest of the week, really. this area of low pressure in the north sea bringing rain and potentially some significant mountain snow across scotland and perhaps also the pennines

as well for a time on wednesday. elsewhere, another day of sunshine and heavy showers. and the thing with the showers is, when they come along, they could drop the temperatures just over a short period of time by four or five degrees, so it is going to feel pretty chilly out and about.